Mosley's Bad Boy Brawly Brown Latest USA Today Book Club Selection

The USA Today book club has chosen Walter Mosley’s Bad Boy Brawly Brown as its latest selection. The newspaper announced its third choice -- and the first cloth title -- in its July 2 edition.

Bad Boy Brawly Brown is the seventh in Mosley’s Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins series and is published by Little, Brown. Mosley, the author of 13 books, has returned with a Rawlins novel after a six-year hiatus (1996’s A Little Yellow Dog). The new novel is set in L.A. in 1964 and follows Rawlins as he tries to track down a young man who has become involved with a black revolutionary group. In a review of the book, USA Today Book Editor Carol Memmott wrote, "Mosley fans have waited years for Bad Boy Brawly Brown…. They won’t be disappointed."

The choice of Mosley’s latest follows the selection of Richard Russo’s Empire Falls and Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit. The USA Today’s book club chooses a new title every six weeks. During that period, the paper posts questions on its book club message board, inviting readers to discuss the book online. At the end of the six-week period, the newspaper announces its new book club pick and invites the author to do an online chat with readers.

Bob Minzesheimer, a book critic for USA Today, told BTW that a key factor in choosing Bad Boy Brawly Brown was that "it’s entertaining and accessible, but it also raises interesting moral questions. It’s a novel that lends itself to discussions." In an interview with Minzesheimer, Mosley said that his books were not written to deliver political messages. "I want to open a dialogue. I don’t want readers to think, ‘This is what Walter thinks.’ I want them to identify with the problem, even if they don’t agree with how it’s solved," Mosley said.

Mosley’s comment was a catalyst for the book club’s first online questions: "How much do you think of Easy Rawlins, flaws and all, as a hero? And what about his violent friend, Raymond ‘Mouse’ Alexander? Is he a hero?"

USA Today will post a new question each week, and Mosley will answer book club participants’ questions in two online chat sessions, July 18 at 4:00 p.m. EDT and July 23 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.